“Connected is sooo Techno Hip meets Emotional Pop Rock. All the ingredients of a chart-topper.”
– Pop Rox Culture
“Fast-paced, funny and full of pertinent flashes on contemporary ways of being, Tiffany Shlain meditates on the state of ourtechnologised lives.”

“Coming at it from both a personal and political perspective, she explores how our path of progress has resulted in a simultaneous strengthening and weakening of global societies.”

“Bravely tackling the big themes – metaphysics, nature, gender relations – she reflects on achievements already made and potential still to be realised.”

“Clever, witty and stylish, it’s a film about geeks, brains, bees and feminist…”

“Indeed, Shlain’s film does go wide — it’s like a rubber band stretching in multiple directions while not breaking. Examining the ways in which technology can productively unite our global citizenry, Connected details nothing less than the history of consciousness and its arrival within today’s always-on, hyper-wired mind.”–Filmmaker Magazine

“Tiffany Shlain Explains How We are All Connected.”– The Wall Street Journal
In a film that mixes wildly creative animation with found and archival footage, she unpacks the interrelatedness of honeybees, history, and technology — and explores the possibility of a potential shift from a left-brain to a right-brain culture. She also delves into the riches of human connection. For instance, did you know every time you make a contact with another person, even in a text message or tweet, your brain releases oxytocin, also known as “the love hormone”? The film illuminates the necessity of our interdependence and our ability to use technology to share ideas and make connections for a better world.– Grist.com

“Sundance Documentary Connected Champions Internet as Social Tool. Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain adds personal slant to exploration of global hive mind.”– Wired MagazineConnected is a sagely and even delightfully presented story of our interconnectedness as a species – among ourselves, all living things, and the technologies through which extend ourselves and give substance to our imaginations, plans, and desires….in the hope it holds out for our new media, it is the kind of movie Buckminster Fuller might have made.– Paul Levinson’s Infinite Regress

About the Film

Have you ever faked a restroom trip to check your email? Slept with your laptop? Or become so overwhelmed that you just unplugged from it all? In this funny, eye-opening, and inspiring film, Director Tiffany Shlain takes audiences on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride to discover what it means to be connected in the 21st century. From founding The Webby Awards to being a passionate advocate for The National Day of Unplugging, Her love/hate relationship with technology serves as the springboard for a thrilling exploration of modern life…and our interconnected future. Equal parts documentary and memoir, the film unfolds during a year in which technology and science literally become a matter of life and death for the director. As Shlain’s father battles brain cancer and she confronts a high-risk pregnancy, her very understanding of connection is challenged. Using a brilliant mix of animation, archival footage, and home movies, Shlain reveals the surprising ties that link us not only to the people we love but also to the world at large. A personal film with universal relevance, Connected explores how, after centuries of declaring our independence, it may be time for us to declare our interdependence instead.

Educator’s Edition

Get the award-winning film that educators around the world are using to trigger conversations about the good, the bad and the potential of all the ways we’re connected in the 21st century. We have partnered with a wonderful educational distribution team, Ro*co Educational.

If you have any questions for the Connected team directly, we are happy to help! Please feel free to write to Sawyer (sawyer@connectedthefilm.com)

Distribution Highlights:

World Premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival

11 US cities theatrical tour

Selected by the U.S. State Department to be part of the 2012 American Film Showcase and as the first film to launch the Showcase: South Africa, Burundi, Cyprus, Tajikistan, Mexico, Russia, Malawi, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Japan, South Korea, Colombia, Egypt, China, Brazil, Thailand, Iraq, Angola, Algeria, Belarus, El Salvador

Over 1000 screenings since launch including 75 film festivals including Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, Jerusalem Int’l Film Festival, special screening at Cannes Int’l Film Market, Cleveland Int’l, and many more (complete list here)

Used in over 200 educational institutions around the world, on 6 continents.

Connected script included in official Motion Picture Academy Library

On Paste Magazine’s 2011 list of best documentaries

Winner of 17 awards & distinctions including:

Selected by the U.S. State Department to play at embassies around the world as part of the US Film Showcase

Selected for the Disruptive Innovation Award from The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival

The Interdependence Film Prize from The Berlin International Film Festival and the Interdependence Movement

Best Documentary Feature from the Atlanta Int’l Film Festival

Best of Festival Documentary from the Portland, ME Film Festival

Women in Film Award from the National Geographic All Roads Grant at Sundance

Director’s Statement

I hope that “Connected,” will help create a global conversation about what it means to be connected in the 21st century. I believe that by engaging people to talk about connectedness in their own lives and in the world, the ripple effect of these conversations will have far reaching impact. Appreciating that this is a huge subject, I employ many tactics (humor, animation, archival and my own personal story) to attempt to untangle what interdependence and connectedness mean in terms of the history of the human species and moving forward. Through this journey, I wield a large magnifying glass to look at some of the absurd and beautiful behaviors of our species and our world. While the core components of humans desire to be “connected,” have not changed since we first appeared on this planet, a new zeitgeist is emerging through this central nervous system of connection that we have created around the world with all these new technologies. I hope with this film and the conversation it triggers will help us explore the good, the bad and hope of this new “connectedness” in the 21st century.

International Distribution

RO*CO FILMSRo*co is honored to represent a collection of documentaries that inspire and entertain. They recognize that documentary films can connected us to human experiences well beyond the boundaries of our own. The films they choose transport us to new places and persuade us that they possess the power to do the same for audiences around the world. Founded by Annie Roney in 2000, ro*co films remains committed to finding audiences aroudnt he world for the best documentaries of our day. With eight Oscar-nominated and or/winning documentary films under our watch, as well as a slate of award-winning film festival documentaries, ro*co has earned the trust and respect of both the filmmaking community and the people who give their films a platform. http://www.rocofilms.com/